My theory.. Apple purposely went ahead with the iOS 5.1 release on 03/07 knowing that it was going to effect millions of users that were either jailbroken or unlocked. That is why hackers are having such a hard time releasing a full release and that is why they are offering non-contract customers an iPhone Factory Unlock! Knowing that the uninformed iPhone user will update his phone with intentions of it being fully unlocked and when they have no more avenues to turn to they will forego $150 and get a replacement.
Here goes.. sorry if there are errors in grammar, too tired to proof read.
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Been using an iPhone 3GS up until last week when I bought an iPhone 4 16GB from a friend. It was originally a locked phone, until I unlocked with ATT. My friend thought that was pretty cool, so he wanted to trade me his NEW iPhone 4 32GB for the one he sold me previously. I said sure, I don't need an unlocked phone myself since I'm with AT&T and a New 32GB doesn't sound bad either.
So here's the dilemma. When I go to plug it into iTunes to restore my apps and media, iTunes ask for me to do the 5.1 upgrade. One click of approval and the nightmare begins...
1. Immediately call AT&T since my SIM card is not being recognized.
2. AT&T cannot figure out the problem, points me to an AT&T store to get a new SIM.
3. 2 Techs and an Indian look over my phone. They took so long I went to go have lunch next door. Came back and they said "You should go to apple, we can't find anything wrong with the phone."
4. I got to my Apple appointment, I see one of the "Geniuses" he examines my phone, and says the SIM card tray is missing. Great, must of left it at the ATT store. I call to confirm and I did, it's sitting on the counter.
Genius says "Don't worry about it, do you mind if I open it up and check the serial.?"
I say sure and he goes in the back to do his thing. As I wait for the next 5 minutes he comes back out and says he has the serial. I thought to myself that was rather fast, but whatever. Proceeds to do a 5.1 restore and I wait. When it was finished, same problem INVALID SIM.
He goes ahead and pulls out his iTouch and shows me the info on the phone. It is a US purchased phone, originally bought in July 2010. Also tells me that this phone is 260 some odd days old. But I didn't catch that at first, I just remember 2010 is way old.
He than tells me that this phone has a hardware issue. I tell him it's in perfect condition, he agrees and tells me it could be an internal logic board. I tell him how when you just did a 5.1 restore. He says the firmware upgrade could of pushed the RAM of the phone to high and something malfunctioned.
******** METER ALERT.
I didn't feel like arguing with him, I head home and do more research now that I know the origins of this phone. I call ATT back up for the 60th time..
--Just a side note, when they say ("Can we use your information to..blah blah.. Your decision won't effect your quality of service..blah blah..")
IT WILL! Every time I said no thanks, these bastards just shut down and wanted to move on. F*& you're uVerse package.
...Anyways I finally get on the line with a tech who knows what she's talking about. Does some more research and confirms that this is definitely an ATT locked phone and does not know why the IMEI is blocked from the network. She says she has filed a case and someone will call me in the next 3-5 business days. (This is not a case for an iPhone factory unlock)
More research.. The serial of my phone started with 5K.. Information states that it was manufactured sometime in 2011 and is a part of a Class Action Law-Suit. You guys remember the whole rubber bumper fiasco..
Every time I talk to customer service or a Tech, I pretend I don't know anything to gauge what kind of advice they would give me. The Genius did not suggest a factory unlock and when some other kid across from me was trying to get a phone unlocked, the Genius says he doesn't know much about it. I tell the kid to just call up AT&T and you should be good to go if you don't have a contract. Genius stares with a "WTF?" face and the rest of the people sitting at the table ask me for more information. 3 out of the 5 people sitting at that table had an invalid sim issue. Most were not to knowledgeable of tech stuff, they looked like a mom or dad who just screwed up the computer big time. It was obvious Apple took advantage of this since they just offered a $150 replacement, most of them were going to take the replacement until I told them about calling up ATT.
Now I'm going to call Apple express lane and demand a replacement, will update later after I get some sleep, but anyone have the same experience or am I just Mel Gibson in a bad 1990's hollywood drama?
Here goes.. sorry if there are errors in grammar, too tired to proof read.
---
Been using an iPhone 3GS up until last week when I bought an iPhone 4 16GB from a friend. It was originally a locked phone, until I unlocked with ATT. My friend thought that was pretty cool, so he wanted to trade me his NEW iPhone 4 32GB for the one he sold me previously. I said sure, I don't need an unlocked phone myself since I'm with AT&T and a New 32GB doesn't sound bad either.
So here's the dilemma. When I go to plug it into iTunes to restore my apps and media, iTunes ask for me to do the 5.1 upgrade. One click of approval and the nightmare begins...
1. Immediately call AT&T since my SIM card is not being recognized.
2. AT&T cannot figure out the problem, points me to an AT&T store to get a new SIM.
3. 2 Techs and an Indian look over my phone. They took so long I went to go have lunch next door. Came back and they said "You should go to apple, we can't find anything wrong with the phone."
4. I got to my Apple appointment, I see one of the "Geniuses" he examines my phone, and says the SIM card tray is missing. Great, must of left it at the ATT store. I call to confirm and I did, it's sitting on the counter.
Genius says "Don't worry about it, do you mind if I open it up and check the serial.?"
I say sure and he goes in the back to do his thing. As I wait for the next 5 minutes he comes back out and says he has the serial. I thought to myself that was rather fast, but whatever. Proceeds to do a 5.1 restore and I wait. When it was finished, same problem INVALID SIM.
He goes ahead and pulls out his iTouch and shows me the info on the phone. It is a US purchased phone, originally bought in July 2010. Also tells me that this phone is 260 some odd days old. But I didn't catch that at first, I just remember 2010 is way old.
He than tells me that this phone has a hardware issue. I tell him it's in perfect condition, he agrees and tells me it could be an internal logic board. I tell him how when you just did a 5.1 restore. He says the firmware upgrade could of pushed the RAM of the phone to high and something malfunctioned.
******** METER ALERT.
I didn't feel like arguing with him, I head home and do more research now that I know the origins of this phone. I call ATT back up for the 60th time..
--Just a side note, when they say ("Can we use your information to..blah blah.. Your decision won't effect your quality of service..blah blah..")
IT WILL! Every time I said no thanks, these bastards just shut down and wanted to move on. F*& you're uVerse package.
...Anyways I finally get on the line with a tech who knows what she's talking about. Does some more research and confirms that this is definitely an ATT locked phone and does not know why the IMEI is blocked from the network. She says she has filed a case and someone will call me in the next 3-5 business days. (This is not a case for an iPhone factory unlock)
More research.. The serial of my phone started with 5K.. Information states that it was manufactured sometime in 2011 and is a part of a Class Action Law-Suit. You guys remember the whole rubber bumper fiasco..
Every time I talk to customer service or a Tech, I pretend I don't know anything to gauge what kind of advice they would give me. The Genius did not suggest a factory unlock and when some other kid across from me was trying to get a phone unlocked, the Genius says he doesn't know much about it. I tell the kid to just call up AT&T and you should be good to go if you don't have a contract. Genius stares with a "WTF?" face and the rest of the people sitting at the table ask me for more information. 3 out of the 5 people sitting at that table had an invalid sim issue. Most were not to knowledgeable of tech stuff, they looked like a mom or dad who just screwed up the computer big time. It was obvious Apple took advantage of this since they just offered a $150 replacement, most of them were going to take the replacement until I told them about calling up ATT.
Now I'm going to call Apple express lane and demand a replacement, will update later after I get some sleep, but anyone have the same experience or am I just Mel Gibson in a bad 1990's hollywood drama?
you need a sim card to activate with iTunes and either you dont have one or the hardware is having trouble reading it. But anyways you don't need to use iTunes to activate the phone if it has any version of iOS 5